Some random nook in the Rincon Mountains, just east of Tucson. 4 a.m. It took a few monsters to get through this.

While the sky, as well as the horizon, were both completely pitch black when I took this, the camera obviously picked up the fringes of light from the sun as the sky was only a matter of minutes from beginning to brighten up.

Actually, this was taken on a fixed tripod. I shot it at ~18mm, though that's more like 30mm once converted digitally, but because the angle was so wide I was able to get a full exposure within a bit over a minute. I toyed around with exposure times and this was about the maximum exposure I could get without increasing the exposure time and consequentially getting streaked stars. If you look at [link] you'll see what that star streak turned into once I pushed the exposure to a few minutes long. Even with this photo, if looking at the full-res version, there is some streaking to be noted. The best bet to minimize the streak, or at least use it to an advantage when shooting from a fixed tripod, is to point to the zenith of the sky (~the north star). That way at least a small amount of stars remain perfectly in focus, un-streaked, no matter how long the exposure, while the stars surrounding it streak in a circular motion.

Went out into a little spot tucked into the Rincons. North of Vale. This shot is literally in the opposite direction that tucson is in, and no matter which direction I shot in the city glow was far out of the shot.

That's what I love about Tucson - the light pollution is so low, you don't have to go far to leave the lights behind, even on that rare cloudy night. Absolutely beautiful shot, by the way. There's something so real about desert sky, night or day